A little something to cure your case of the Mondays

3 albums that shouldn't fall through the cracks

Another installment in my series of paying tribute to lesser known albums/bands that have been good to me over the years.

Nels Andrews - Sunday Shoes

In terms of first albums, and also complete albums, Sunday Shoes stands at the top in my mind. This former Albuquerque (now Brooklyn) resident played and toured regionally around New Mexico for a number of years behind this album, although I think he has maintained a bigger fan base in Europe for most of that span. The weight of the songwriting on this album was apparent to me when I saw him open solo for the Magnolia Electric Co. a few years ago. The crowd was a mix of indie and alt country types, although in Lubbock those people are the same, but nonetheless, by the end of the show, he had everyone's attention and basically had the room silenced, which is no small feat at any show in Lubbock. This album is still fairly generally available, and you can download it off all of the major sites as well. I hesitate to pick stand-out tracks from this album, but "Jesse's Mom," "Weight," and "Petal to a Bee" are 3 tracks that should give you a good idea of the strength of this album.

Milton Mapes - Westernaire

Milton Mapes is somewhat of a quintessential Austin band, and I don't mean that in a bad way. They tour very rarely, but they continue to put out good music, and only tour when the opportunity is just right. For that matter, they usually only tour as a 2 piece, so you'll have to catch them in Austin or Dallas to get the full band show. I can't remember if MM is officially "broken up" or not, but they generally perform under the moniker of Monahans now, which I think has some inspiration in the duly titled song from Westernaire. They still play occasionally under the name Milton Mapes, named after the lead singer's grandfather if I remember correctly, so I think the different band names have more to do with artistic vision than anything else (remember when I said quintessential Austin band?). Westernaire is a solidly thematic album (whatever that means), and overall is a great listen, as is their first album The State Line. Standout tracks you might want to check out are "Maybe You're Here, Maybe You're Not" and "The Only Sound That Matters."

Deadman - Paramour

This album was a tough selection, and one that a number of people I know might not agree with, simply because the current incarnation of Deadman, i.e. Steven Collins, isn't really all that similar to the Deadman that made Paramour. This album has a quiet brilliance to it (once again, whatever that means), but very honestly is an amazing collection of songs with beautiful harmonies from Steven and Sherilyn Collins. "The Ballad of Padre Miguel" blends Mexican guitar and alt country/indie rock in as natural of a way as one could ever hope to put together, that is, it doesn't sound contrived or unauthentic. "Ghost Story" is another great track on the album, and the one that first drew me to the band at a live show in Fort Worth 7 or 8 years ago. I don't know that I can fully describe this album, but I think it was made at a point in time where everything and everyone came together with the right influences and just got it "right." Sounds cliched I know, but it's well worth it. I won't even talk about the latest releases from Deadman, because it's just going to take away from what I just said about this one.

Both Paramour and Westernaire are still widely available, either as downloads, or used on Amazon. Won't cost you much to check them out.

Just missed the cut:

The Court & Spark - Dead Diamond River EP

This now inactive, formerly San Francisco based band (i.e., another that may not have completely broken up, but you can pretty well count them as done) put out a number of good releases over the years. This is a good sampling of their music, with the undisputed highlight being "Lucia." Check it out sometime.

Collin Herring - Avoiding the Circus

The first release from this Fort Worth based singer/songwriter, which got him a good deal of attention at the time, is not a favorite of mine all the way through. However, "Train on Her Brain" is one of the best unknown alt country rockers that you can find. "Heaven Doesn't Work Out" is not too bad either. Both songs are worth checking out, although in my opinion probably stand out far above the rest of the album. He's got a new album out, his third - Past Life Crashing - which is really growing on me. He unfortunately lost probably the biggest champion of his music in Miles of Music, so if you like what you hear, he's a good guy and makes good music, so please check out his more recent releases. "Punches" from the new album is a great place to start.

I'm getting pretty excited

This DVD just came in the mail:




























I'll let you know if it's better, worse, or as good as this one, as far as documentaries about the American South go:



























Also, I had to post this just now because it was freaking me out going to my blog and seeing a picture of George Clooney first thing.

ERrrr... what?

I was watching ER last night (final season you know), minding my own business, of course, and they introduce a character who was at the ER to see his sister, who it turns out was raising his daughter.  Anyway, he was generally a hard life type of character, trying to maybe turn things around.  He is also the actor who played Rene in the HBO vampire show True Blood (although I won't tell you any more about that character, in case you haven't seen the series yet).  He's the one with the really strong cajun accent.

Long story short, most of that isn't important.  However, he was playing guitar in the doctor's lounge I think, entertaining the girl (his daughter) while the sister was being treated.  He starts strumming and singing, and I had to check my drawers.  Turns out he was singing "Southside of Heaven" by Ryan Bingham.  Then, at the end of the show, oddly they played more of him (the actor) singing the song.  I thought it was weird they didn't use the Bingham version at that point.  Either way, I guess having a fairly big time indie (edit: major label in sheep's clothing) label can help out your career pretty well.

(I picked the most ridiculous picture I could find)

I've had an ongoing like/hate relationship with Ryan Bingham for some time now.  He came up in the Texas Country scene (hate), but has largely made his way out of that scene (like).  He signed with Lost Highway (like), but his lyrics (at times), can be a bit cliched (hate).  Nonetheless, he is growing on me.  I can't deny that "Southside of Heaven" is a good song, as are "Long Way From Georgia" and "Hard Times."  (I can't believe I'm writing this.)

Apparently he's from Hobbs, NM, which also is allowing me to give him more of a chance, given the west Texas connection (kind of like I do for Joe Ely sometimes - remember "Nacho Mama"?).  On that same note though, I'm wondering why his line "I've been a desperado in West Texas for so long Lord I need a change" wasn't actually written as "I've been a desperado in Hobbs, New Mexico for so long Lord I need a change."  

Oh I'm just kidding around now.

On a completely, couldn't be more unrelated note, can someone please tell me what you think of this band Portugal. The Man.?  They are on tour right now, and I'm liking what I hear right now.  I mainly just need to find out if they have gotten recent attention because various members grew up in Wasilla, Alaska, or if it's actually because they are good.

This is probably not the last you'll hear of this

Just heard about a Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger. If this goes through, I would expect that concert ticket fees will become more expensive than the tickets themselves.

I'm going to have to calm down a bit before I write more about this one. 50 years and 9 days after the music died, I'm pretty sure this will ensure that music stays dead forever.

You say it best

I caught about half of the Grammy's on Sunday night, and given the fact that I was staying in a place with DVR access (i.e., not my house), I was able to watch the highlights in about 15 minutes. 

It was quite impressive to see Radiohead onstage doing their thing, even though 99% of people watching probably didn't get it.  (Not sure I even get Radiohead these days, but I still respect the hell out of them.)  And I'm guessing the USC marching band members are walking tall on campus today, at least if they made it out of bed this morning.  Rumor has it that there was a serious Dr. Pepper kegger after the performance, so it's likely things got a little crazy.  

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, with T-Bone Burnett, put on a pretty good performance as well.  Whatever you think about that pairing, the harmonies are amazing, and the Grammy performance was a perfect example.  And let's also not forget that T-Bone produced both Bringing Down the Horse, by the Wallflowers, AND August and Everything After, by Counting Crows, so he can still do pretty much anything he wants.

I guess I'm impressed that the aforementioned duo won Album of the Year, given that they are still on independent Rounder Records.  Rounder has been around a while and is probably one of the bigger independent labels (soon to be bigger with the press this win will get them), but nonetheless, they are independent.  Quite impressive really that you can take a 60 year old ex-biggest-rock-star-in-the-world, and a one hit wonder bluegrass singer and make them into multiple Grammy winners.  I have to ask though, did Alison have part of her body removed to fit into that dress?  And also, can someone tell me how they won Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammys for an album that came out October 23, 2007?

Twice the sin, 1/4 the time

I've found myself recently liking two songs, both titled "Sin City." One is by the relatively well known Flying Burrito Brothers, arguably one of the progenitors of alternative country, while the other is from Limbeck, a newer and maybe less relatively well known band.

The FBB's version is classic, and probably my favorite version of it is actually performed by Beck and Lucinda Williams. Limbeck, whom I might characterize as a decreasingly alt country band, clearly has a bit of a Burrito Brothers/Gram Parsons influence, and their Sin City song is probably just as good.

Here's what I'd like to see, in a live show, from some band willing to take on the challenge. I think these songs have a potential to be melded into one in a fairly cohesive way, maybe like when older bands put 3 or 4 songs into a medley, but in a more respectable way. The biggest problem is that one is in 3/4 time and the other in 4/4. Yes, quite a problem, but not an insurmountable one.

Be creative, be bold, but by all means, please do a good job.

I've seen it all and I don't want to see anymore

Above: Robert Frost statue after stopping by woods on a snowy evening


I was walking across campus today and saw an old man with a camera set up on a tripod, taking pictures near the Robert Frost statue. Hmm, I thought, wonder what this old bearded man is up to. As I neared him, I saw him down on his knees fitting a pair of Crocs onto Bobby Frost's feet.

Yes, you heard me correctly.  Not even that I consider Robert Frost some bastion of anti-capitalism or anything, but this was just pure Boulder ridiculous, plain and simple.  This is truly confirmation that capitalism is corrupting our elderly.

If Frost was still alive for this incident, I think he would have had to tack on a few extra miles before he slept.